Varuna
Background Physical Appearance Body Varuna is a slightly curvaceous, but muscled young teen (woman in Zero-G) who is tall for her age compared to Japan's average height of women. She has caramel brown skin with dark blue face paint that resembles cat whiskers or tiger stripes; Two downward triangles that point from underneath her eyes, her cheeks having two stripes each, and a long stripe of blue that start from the center of her forehead down to the tip of her nose. Her cheek stripes are composed of a long tilde-shaped line with a shorter one right under it, sometimes looking like a triangle. Varuna has eyes in a cool color around cerulean and are described as blue as her hair. Her hair is past shoulder-length and Persian blue with white edges at the ends that flare and curl upward behind her shoulders, and large white bangs that cover the side of her face. The edges have a look like frosted hair tips and a crescent moon on the large bangs. Clothes In Metal Fusion and Masters, she wears a scarlet red t-shirt with a grey denim-like vest worn over it that stops at the waist. She replaces the old red bandana she wears on her neck with a larger one of the similar shade that covers a few portions of her neck and chest. On her limbs, yellow-rimmed metal-black gloves and sometimes a black armband are worn on her right wrist or upper arm. Varuna also wears white shorts with a Hawkes blue tint that stops before the knees and socks of the same colors as her gloves that cover just over her calves. On her feet, she wears blue boots that have a white stripe that runs down the center with lines running horizontally near the toe area and two square-like patterns of white on both sides of the lines on each boot. These boots cover near the calves. By Metal Fury, while she kept most of her outfit the same, Varuna later changes her vest and t-shirt to a Blue tank top, which was decorated with White and Yellow designs that vertically run down the center of the tank top, somewhat giving a complicated but elegant and fiery look to some extent. The design appears to reference a Fleur de Lis shape on the back in a similar fashion. Because of the absence of sleeves, more space on Varuna’s upper arms is given for the armband to be worn there. Following the Zero-G Era, she wears the same type of clothing, but hides nearly 90 percent of her outfit in public with a walnut-brown hooded cloak with long, oversized sleeves that cover her entire arms and hands, so her arms look like wings or tendrils rather than actual arms as the fabric dangles. The only things that are not always covered are parts of her hair and face, her calves and boots. Near the hips is a feathered tail-like appendage in a pattern of violets and whites. Three groups of feathers stand on the head of the hood in the same colors; Both opposite sides have 3 white and violet feathers while two longer and larger ones are attached to the center. To top it all off, Varuna wears a black bird-themed mask with violet designs near the edges. The mask has a wing-like shape at both ends, which pokes out when worn with the hood on or pokes out from the hair when the hood is not put on. Sometimes, she wears long, black dress pants with black boots underneath. Underneath her clothing, parts of her body are decorated with dark brown, waterproof body paint that look like stripes that originate from the center ones on places like arms and torso. Personality Varuna during the Bladers’ Order arcs is known to be a typically curious and persistent child, often pestering her mother about the topic of beyblade to the point of annoyance. She is calm, optimistic, and friendly, as she was able to steadily befriend Bara from the Scorpion Sharks gang and encourage her to join hers after the fall-out with the Scorpion Shark leader Shion. As a right-hand to Jesse, she introduces a vibe of nobility due to how she is perceived by the public as “stoic,” thanks to the popularity she gained from her skill and strength for her age. She shows her compassionate and loyal side, sympathizing with Bara and Jesse and is not hesitant to stand up to enemies to the extent of physically fighting them when challenged, only to support her friends. No matter how close or distant her bond with someone is, she defends them in combat whenever she can and is willing to guide them out of harm’s way. To Varuna, nearly everyone is her family. While she usually possesses a positive perspective, she still displays a stubborn side, refusing to back down from a challenge of any kind when discouraged. Because of her strong will to achieve her goals, she is unable to forfeit from a battle, even when it escalates to her being covered in cuts and bruises. Varuna does not stand for the use of beyblades to abuse others and can become very fiercely severe due to her passionate side of herself. She can be sometimes cocky, but still has a sense of good sportsmanship to her opponents when she can, inspired by Bara’s presentation of the same thing. Like Gingka Hagane, Varuna has a personal belief of the “Blader’s Spirit,” although she refers it to the “Blader’s Heart/Soul,” or the “Blader’s Honor.” She is easy to be in awe with portrayals of entertainment or the admirable traits of certain people and be inspired by it, such as when she sees her neighbors beyblade for the first time, triggering her fascination with beyblade. She sees a vibe of nobility in Bara due to her age and her role in her group. She is very outgoing and active, preferring to travel and move around from one faraway area to across the town, as well as exercising. She is a creative and artistic girl, as well as a deep thinker, seen through her obsessive habit of making doodles on pages of paper and writing about beyblade tops and speculating on what kind of moves she could come up with if she owned her bey. Varuna shows this sense of creativity once more, along with her helpfulness while the gang finds ways to decorate the hideout, ranging from a typical “rock and roll” style to a minimalistic “designer-like” vibe. She can see the beauty in minimal things such as small plants and abstract art in museums. Thanks to her intelligence and knowledge of the various skills she has seen and multiple strategies she had observed over her years, she is able to give advice to her comrades in the Bladers’ Order on improving their beys, alongside providing tips in using certain bey parts. Varuna is also seen as forgiving to a fault sometimes, as shown as when she is unwilling to beat Shion or his bey Midnight Scorpio to a pulp and gave him a chance to drop his flags and disband his gang, although to no avail every time she defeats him. She also presents this towards Ryuga after Battle Bladers ages later, despite falling victim to L-Drago. She forgives him for the treatment towards her for she knew the dragon Blader was being tempted and controlled by the spirit of the bey. She is driven by her emotions and what she feels in her heart, even if she doesn't realize it, which can be shown when she constantly felt driven to be with Ryuga, despite the dragon blader trying to get her to leave him alone. Another example is when she strives to help Jesse and Bara's relationship improve. By the time she joined the Dark Nebula out of curiosity and ambition to fight more bladers and getting stronger, Varuna holds a calmer and more reserved position, seemingly “stoic” as her neighbors would see her. Although she was against working with Ryuga, exhibiting the expressive and rebellious personality she used to have before, her tone transformed from an outgoing and extroverted to an introverted and laid-back, but stern vibe thanks to her training and her stay with the Dark Nebula, added to being burned out from multiple bladers inside teasing her and giving her hostile remarks. She learned to keep herself quiet, like the rest of the loyal members of the DN and only listen without participating in the conversation unless asked. Regardless of her struggle with the Dark Nebula, it didn’t stop her from being able to connect with a few members and help them, whether it was advice or trying to heal their injuries. She was entertained by Tetsuya’s quirkiness with crabs and was always pumped up by the sight of Kyoya since their first meeting. She grew a “frenemy” rivalry with Dan and Reiki since the first days in the HQ, discovering a teasing aspect that stays with her even when she follows Ryuga later. She had a flirty side, which she finds it entertaining when she teases and flirts with some of the guys for fun. Despite being introverted and soft-spoken, Varuna was slightly snarky and juvenile unless being around higher-ups. Her personality change seemed to be such a drastic change to some people to the point that even Kyoya noticed it upon the aftermath of their match during their quests to collect enough points for Battle Bladers. She developed a somewhat motherly side from having to watch over and take care of Ryuga for a time like a servant and it was amplified when Yu Tendo joined. Eventually, she became the “older sister-figure” of his. Her constant care of the latter during their stay led to Varuna earning her nickname “Runi.” She felt more like herself when conversing with Tsubasa and admired how the two recent recruits reminded her of how she was years ago and is now, indicating some desire to experience the wild old days back at home. During Metal Masters and Fury, her personality exhibits a blended mixture of how she was before and after joining the Dark Nebula, so her outgoing, helpful, and easily entertained side is more apparent and expressed much more alongside her reserved and formal tone when speaking with Ryuga. She contrasts his hot-headed and selfish spirit with her more cautious and sympathetic heart. They are more prone to heated arguments due to this, alongside their differing viewpoints, although they are often dismissed by Ryuga refusing to listen to her for a while. She remains polite to him most of the time and continued to aid him in how to take care of himself until the day she left. Around that point, she became more compassionate in her attempts to calm him down after his angered moments and opens her heart in expressing that she cares about him. This side of her revealed that she has a tendency to desire reconciliation with others and showing a soft side after spending enough time with someone. When Varuna’s view of affection towards someone grows more, she is more likely to put herself in front of those she cares about to protect without question, no matter how much stronger the person is compared to her, portraying her stubbornness that stayed with her since the beginning. However, this can also come off as overprotective and overly attached. With her loyalty comes her honesty, although she can appear blunt to some. While emotionally stubborn, she is physically adaptable to situations and is able to find ways to utilize her surroundings and communications to her advantage. Varuna is also somewhat spiritual, having a fascination towards healing crystals and occasionally showing beliefs in Mother Nature and other entities/deities in hoping for their protection on her journeys. This aspect may be the reason for her mostly calm temperament as of "Metal Masters." After her bittersweet departure from Ryuga, she maintains the same personality as before, but is more optimistic by the time she returned home and meets her father for the first time. When she finds Jesse working in Korea, Varuna was shocked and distressed upon learning upfront of the drastic transformation her old friend had. Due to her emotional side and her fond memories of their strong bond as best and closest friends, she was heartbroken and deeply hurt from her outbursts against her, and the blame she was plastered with stuck with her in the back of her mind to fester until the day she heard of Ryuga’s disappearance. This slightly revealed the effects of betrayal by a personal friend. Upon hearing about his downfall, Varuna broke out in tears due to her constant self-blame, shame, guilt, and how much she felt for the dragon blader. Thus, she was transformed into her lowest form. Before and during Zero-G, she had undergone a damaging downward spiral and suffered a severe case of depression and hallucinations that made her susceptible to outbursts and panics that lead her to flee to a dark, faraway spot to cry to herself, scrubbing her head and messing up her hair and digging her nails into her legs through her clothes as she holds herself. Most of the activities she participated like singing, cooking, making art, and even beyblading became greatly infrequent. Painting, writing vent prompts, and drawing only worsened her stress and health since some strokes and shapes reminded her too much of Ryuga. Whenever she sees depictions of reptiles or sees a depiction of Ryuga or lookalike, a vision and pictures of dragons like L-Drago and Ryuga flash in Varuna's mind, causing her to break down in a depressive episode and in tears again. Varuna became indecisive with her strategies and general decisions, grew to be impatient, and she stayed in her home for most of her days and only occasionally went outside at night. The blader who was known as a fighter with grace and fluidity was transformed into an anxious individual who relies on melee head-first with no plan. The person who is known to be expressive in her fashion once in a while reverts to wearing her dark brown robe and a black and purple mask with brownish-black body paint stripes as a sign of guilt and closing out from the world. After Zero-G, she displays a slight improvement since she was able to show her new clothes in public and speak a bit with new faces like Skye, Shifa, and Ashe. Despite her pessimistic, and asocial appearance, Varuna still expresses her previously motherly or older sisterly vibe to a small bit towards Yatsuma and Ashe after spending enough time with them to the point that she was referred by her new friends “sister. Relationships Myra Elijah Jesse Bara Shion Doji and Dark Nebula Ryuga Yatsuma Ashe Skye Shifa Allari Metal Saga Metal Fight (Metal Fusion) Explosion (Metal Masters) 4D (Metal Fury) Beyblade '''Frozen Tigris UW145HD: '''Varuna's first beyblade, which was given to her by Myra, who kept it in secret to maintain its quality and kept to herself after finding it as a young adult. According to tales, Tigris was created by the ancient white Tiger Byakko and was guarded by a clan of his chosen kin of tigers during the early ages of civilization. However, it was stolen from them centuries later by humans, and was lost, but recovered in the Tigris River in the Middle East and was brought to Japan. It was revered as an unparalleled treasure by various societies for hundreds of years after being left in the care of the people of the small town that later became Hasunayama. Due to conflicts of time, the bey was lost again for unknown reasons and was believed to have been lost for good when efforts to find it turned out to be in vain, until Myra found it and kept it in secret to take care of it, fearing the uproar and potential threat it could pose. When passed to Varuna, Tigris was referred to as a "replica that took Myra so much time to craft it," until Varuna discovered a fraction of its raw, icy powers during her battle with Jesse. '''Paladin Tigris UW145HF/S: '''A new Synchrome counterpart or "Twin Sister" of Frozen Tigris developed by Ashe and his father. It's Chrome Wheel was used by Yatsuma for the fusion of her own bey, Nightshade Tigris, depending on the position, during her battle with Allari. Battles Quotes Trivia *Two of her favorite foods is Coconut Torte Cake and any kind of noodles, which she had in nearly every birthday before leaving her hometown. This references Coconut Torte Cake Day and Varuna's creator, LightningDraco's liking to food relating to noodles like rice noodles and spaghetti. *She didn’t like Orange Juice until Yatsuma made her drink it under the belief that oranges can treat feelings of depression. This is based on LightningDraco's belief of the same thing. *She never referred Ryuga as her friend, despite wanting to. *In Leaving Behind A Burning Rose (or Departing With A Burning Rose) fanfic, it was revealed to be why Varuna does not appear with Ryuga in 4D/Metal Fury. *it was implied that she was scared of rejection and did not want Ryuga's view of her to become more likely avoidable if she revealed her feelings to him, so she departed from his company, unaware of the possible deep feelings he may have for her. *She admired several International idols, including those who were nicknamed the “Stranger from Russia,” one named “Speechless Heart,” and another called “Bloody Suzie.” Funny enough, some of her graceful and fast moves in battle are inspired by said artists. These artists coincidentally were some of her father's favorite musical artists. These names are Michael Jackson references; Stranger In Moscow, Speechless, Blood on the Dance Floor. *She has a soft heart towards children like Yu and Kenta, which helped develop her caring, motherly side. This side of her may have originated from her father, who has a fondness for children and is willing to help them with their issues with the Scorpion Sharks gang. *Varuna developed dark rings under her eyes as a result of staying up or not getting enough sleep. This was due to the nightmares and her mental turmoil she had daily. *Varuna gets visions and hallucinations of Ryuga, L-Drago, and being harassed by illusions whenever she sees anything that reminds her of Ryuga or anything dragon related. This quickly brings her to tears and digging her fingers into her head, messing up her hair in the process. She hides so no one sees her look like this. Her mask and her cloak are only able to hide her image for so long. *Varuna wished she fell for Kyoya before and instead of Ryuga, but knew it couldn’t happen due to the lack of contacts, distance, and their devotions. *She used to exercise frequently or at least as much free time she could have at the moment to keep her body and organs in shape. This was due to being with The Bladers' Order for several years growing up. Unfortunately, she completely stopped this routine after finding out about Ryuga's fading, implying that her depression got so bad that she stopped doing things she loved. *Varuna ponders if she ever had any Indian and Arabic ancestors due to her name derived from an Indian god and the name of her bey coincidentally having the same as the forgotten constellation, Tigris, which was named after the Tigris River. As a result, she jokes how Hikaru could be her relative, such as a half-sister. *Varuna is slightly allergic to golden-rayed lilies, so she is not a fan of them, but likes tiger lilies. *She is sometimes addressed as "Sister" by some such as Shifa, Skye, and Yatsūma as a sign of affection or to express familial importance to them.